


i could be the end of your heart

by thelandofnothing



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Long-Distance Relationship, Smut, happy birthday yana i love u, missing his girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:35:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23295607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelandofnothing/pseuds/thelandofnothing
Summary: missing arya was always harda birthday fic for the love of my life: yanak324
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 47
Kudos: 147





	i could be the end of your heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yanak324](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanak324/gifts).



> happy birthday yana, you really don't understand how much you mean to me and i am so grateful you came into my life!! i love u so much and i hope you have the most perfect birthday!
> 
> enjoy darling!!!
> 
> (thank u raniyah (fineosaur) for the help, i love u very much)

Gendry shifts uncomfortably under the covers, tossing for what he can probably count as the eighteenth time that night.

He listens to his surroundings; a dog barking, people arguing in the streets all amongst the cacophony of rain beating against the windows of his apartment in fat droplets. He thinks of everything in motion; the tenderness of nature intertwined with the brutality of the concrete jungle; his frustrating day job and non-existent social life only quelled by the relaxation he found with a book in hand nestled in the chair by the window. But no one could take the city out of the man who had been born and raised in its spiralling chaos.

It was better though, living in this godforsaken city with a clearer head and a steady job, because usually when he looks to the right side of the bed, he sees the love of his life sleeping there, her mouth hung open accompanied by soft snores. He shakes his head and the room spirals back into darkness and the bed is cold and empty.

It’s gone to shit again because she’s not here.

As if sensing his anguish, Nymeria pokes her head up from the foot of the bed and she wriggles over the bed closer to him so she can nuzzle his arm.

“Yeah I miss her too girl,” he sighs and runs his fingers through her fur, “Come on, I need a glass of water.”

He knows he’s talking to a dog, his girlfriend’s dog for that matter, but in the moment, it’s alright. There is no one there but them and he’s feeling particularly lonely this night.

He chucks on a pair of sweats and makes his way into their small kitchen, filling Nymeria’s bowl with fresh water and then helping himself.

He dares to look at his phone and squints ungracefully as the full brightness somewhat blinds him. But his frustration is quelled by the sight of a notification. He has to sift through the excessive work emails until he reaches the one from Arya, a photo in the attachment. Opening the message, he is met with a selfie of her and a group of other people presumably from the seminar she was attending; all smiling with pearly white teeth and showing off their fancy lanyards. Arya has new freckles doted down the bridge of her nose and he can see her eyes smiling through the massive pair of sunglasses on her face. Braavos; the city of canals and endless fun it seemed. Nothing like home, but for her, travelling was just her life and what she did for work. It suited her, he knew that better than anyone as Arya was the kind of person who felt claustrophobic in little places, namely their apartment. She always needed to run about in nature or go visit a new place once in a while which was why she was enjoying her work so much, going on trips to other universities to teach seminars.

He begins to type her a message, fumbling on the wording so he doesn’t sound like a desperate idiot.

_Gendry: Hope you’re not getting burnt, I know how grumpy you get when you go all pink_

_But looks like fun_

He sighs and locks his phone, moving to the couch to lie down. Nymeria following him and designating her spot right on his feet. She warms him up as she leans her snout against her leg, at the perfect angle for him to massage the spot between her ears the way she seems to adore. Their apartment feels so hollow without Arya in it, and he knows he’s being stupid because every part of him is so happy that she is having fun and being able to travel. But he hates being alone, with the sounds of the city outside and the emptiness of it all swallowing him whole. It reminds him of the time without her; high school and undergraduate years at university spent in homes with families he didn’t particularly like or cheap, ratty studio apartments that he mostly spent drunk or hungover in. Moving in with Arya was a culture shock to the both of them; there were times when they stepped all over each other and bickered like no one’s business but when they fell into a routine it all worked out for the best.

His phone lights up with a notification.

_Fuck it_ , he can’t sleep anyway so, so what if his night is spent texting his favourite person. Arya will give him crap for it later, he always voiced how much he detested using screens at night.

_Arya: i was wearing the sunscreen u packed me_

_and why aren’t u asleep, isn’t it like 3am there?_

He smiles and opens the conversation.

_Gendry: Actually listening to me? That’s a first_

He waits for the three little dots to appear.

_Arya: don’t avoid the question_

_is that plumbing thing keeping you awake??_

_i told you to call the guy_

He chuckles. _Classic Arya._

_Gendry: Unlike someone I know, I do as I’m told_

_It’s sorted_

_No, it’s just one of those nights_

He waits a moment and hears Nymeria whine when he stops his ministrations.

“You’re just like your mistress,” he grumbles, resuming her pats.

It, of course, reminds him that Arya loves when he runs his fingernails gently against her scalp when they are lying together in their bed or on their couch. She would always voice how much she loved it and it was comparable to how much he loved her rubbing his shoulders after a long day spent in the garage, or currently: bent over a desk all day. It is little things, he thinks fondly; Arya making his coffee just the way he likes it, draping a blanket over his shoulders when he’s too engrossed in a book to notice how cold it is. It doesn’t help that he was so sure about knowing he would love for the rest of his life from the very start, something that he knows would freak the living daylights out of Arya if he ever spoke the thought aloud. Certainty usually was the one thing that scared him in life; times from his youth that he would never get back never permitted him to be anything but sceptical when he occasionally was met with something nice. When Arya had come into his life, it drew away from all the negativity he had experienced and all the cursed thoughts that shrouded him in anxiety. She has the ability to drive him absolutely bloody mad at times, but it’s the fact he still loves her after any fight they have that makes nights like these harder than they possibly ought to be.

His phone lights up again and he picks it up.

_Arya: thought your sleeping got better?_

_i just got back to my hotel, want to call?_

_i miss u_

It was those three words that unravel him. Every single time. He presses FaceTime without hesitation, and it connects almost immediately.

“Hey,” he greets, and her face comes onto the screen mid-yawn.

“Sorry, Gods, I’ve been awake since five on some stupid field trip today,” she explains, “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” he rolls his eyes and looks at her through the screen, admiring her rosy cheeks and full pouted lips, “You looked like you were having fun.”

It’s her turn to roll her eyes.

“I feel like I got run over by a truck,” she groans, and he can see she’s lying on her hotel bed. “If I don’t get to sleep in tomorrow, I’m going to murder someone.” 

He smiles and keeps rubbing Nymeria’s ears.

“Get some rest or we’ll have a body on our hands,” he tells her, but she shakes her head defiantly.

“I’m worried about you, why can’t you sleep?” she asks, her expressive brows furrowing.

“Nym and I aren’t used to our bed being so empty,” he admits, light-heartedly.

He didn’t want to come across as the kind of man who couldn’t let his significant other be out of his sight. Arya could do as she pleased, and he damn well hoped she knew that but her face falls either way.

“I’ve been struggling too,” she sighs, and he feels his heart clench. “It’s hard not having my two furnaces.”

He chuckles. 

He knows Arya does a lot better at the long-distance stuff than he does; he’s not the best texter and he can’t stay on the phone for too long or he gets a headache. _Old man things,_ she always tells him but truthfully, he much prefers the feeling of her in his arms, being there as the physical reminder that they have a life together than seeing her far away on his phone.

“Only a fortnight to go,” he whispers and traces her face on the screen because it hurts not being right next to her. “Then you’re home.”

“Yeah, and then we’re going to stuff our faces at Hot Pie’s because believe it or not I am getting so sick of Braavosi food,” she announces and he laughs, “You better tell him to make our favourite.”

“Of course,” he assures her.

“How was work?” she asks.

“Boring,”

“You really need to change your job,” she looks at him and he shrugs his shoulders.

“Pays the bills, doesn’t it?” he tells her.

“Yeah but you don’t enjoy it,” she argued, and he can tell she’s still in her work clothes. “Maybe we should take a trip.”

He snorts.

“If you can convince my cunt of a manager to give me holiday leave,”

“Gendry your manager is your uncle,” she laughs and it’s contagious.

“Yeah, yeah,” he waves her off, his eyes on her grin. “I’ll look around for something, I’ll even talk to Davos.”

She sighs and gives him a warm smile.

“Thank you,” she runs her fingers through her hair. “Go to sleep now, you’re grumpy when you’re sleep-deprived.”

_I’m grumpy when you’re not around,_ he wants to say but he can see the glow of her skin and the brightness in her eyes takes away from any feeling of wanting her home. She was happy and free and _Arya._

“Alright, I’ll speak to you soon,” he smiles. “I love you.”

She kisses the camera and he laughs.

“I love you too. Good night,”

He hangs up and throws his phone against the pillow.

“You mind sleeping here tonight Nym? I’m too tired to move,” he whispers and she rubs her snout against his leg in response.

Minutes later, he drifts into a sleep so deep it almost makes up for the horrible kink in his neck the next morning.

* * *

A week feels like a month and every day at work seems to bleed into the other.

He is grateful though; he goes to drop in on his mum and has a coffee with her who tells him that it’s alright to feel as miserable as he does when Arya isn’t at home. On the weekend he goes to visit Barra and helps her with her maths homework, promising they’ll go up to the Vale to visit Mya soon. He even makes time to sit down and call Bella, whose three kids are noticeably weighing her down, so he promises he’ll bring Arya up to the Riverlands to help out in the school holidays. He does everything he can to help him remind himself that he does have a family, knowing it deep in his heart even though it took years to rip out the roots of self-deprecating patterns of thought and behaviour. But, of course, it’s not the same because Arya is the whole definition of his family and he has the ring box high on top of the kitchen cabinet where she cannot reach for good reason. She is the woman he sees every day, rain or shine, on her moody days or his grumpy ones. She’s the one who calms him down when his father yet again has the audacity to even exist. And it hurts when she’s not there, because he knows that she is his true definition of family.

He comes home from a punishing session at the gym that he subconsciously knows was a method of distraction from how the apartment echoes without Arya’s loud laughter and he settles on the couch, turning on the television for a source of some kind of noise.

He eats dinner routinely, microwaving some leftovers and putting a hearty mixture of wet and dry food in Nymeria’s bowl. He washes the dishes and decides to put on a vinyl in their bedroom and read a book in bed. It’s raining again and he loves that he can soak up every little bit of introverted time he has for himself.

Before he knows it, he’s fallen asleep and he’s awoken later when Nymeria stirs, her ears popping up.

He rolls his eyes, much too tired to check if there’s an intruder lurking around the apartment. If anything, it’s probably one of the many noises from the street waking up the wolfhound so he closes his eyes and tries to drift back to sleep, ignoring her little whines.

When he wakes again, he feels something warm at his side, wriggling against him and for a second he thinks its Nymeria getting herself comfortable. But he can hear little patters of paws on the floorboards outside the bedroom, so he twists and reaches out to be met with the warm feeling of skin.

His eyes jolt open and he’s met with the sight of Arya peering down at him with an amused expression plastered on her face.

“Arya,” he whispers, and he engulfs her into his arms to make sure she’s actually there and his mind isn’t playing tricks, “What in Seven Hells… You’re meant to be back next week—"

She feels her lips against his and he melts, because there is nothing more comforting than being with her in _their_ bed, wrapped up together with their limbs entangled. He kisses every part he can reach; her temple, her hair, her neck and then she looks at him and kisses him herself with the fury that only she can possess.

“I pulled some strings because I wanted to come home,” she tells him, and he pulls away to stare into her eyes; so profoundly grey like the depths of the moon.

He cups her cheek and leans his forehead against hers because she is finally home and now, he is at home too.

But Arya has a different idea and she rolls them onto his back, grinding her hips down against his.

“What about Nym?” he gasps out, trying to keep his eyes open.

“She’s outside, stupid,” she explains, sitting up on her haunches and peering down at him; her eyes more black than grey. “You can’t expect me not to be horny after two months spent with your poor excuse for sexting.”

He hooks his leg around hers and flips them over.

“From what I remember, you quite enjoyed my ‘poor excuse for sexting’,” he says against her neck and he feels her shiver. “And you can’t expect me not to want to kiss you for the rest of the night.”

She wraps her arms around his shoulders, and she draws him even closer; her legs wrapping around his waist.

“I love you,” he sighs against her mouth and she moans.

When she pulls away, she runs her thumb down his eyebrow, staring at him curiously.

“I missed you, y’know?” she whispers, and her fingers start to trace his cheekbones. “It’s crazy cause normally I don’t ever want to come home.”

He smiles a bit because he appreciates her honestly although it stings a bit. Domesticity to her is boring because she grew up with it shoved in her face, but for him, it excites him, invigorates him even.

“Cause I love travelling but it sucks when you’re not there,”

He tucks a wild piece of hair behind her ear.

“Give it a few days, then you’ll be annoyed with me again and you wish you were back in Braavos,” he teases and kisses her forehead and then her jaw, moving down to her neck. “But for now, I have horniness to deal with.”

“Fuck off you prat,” she giggles, really giggles and digs her heels into his arse. “It’s not like you’re complaining.”

He smirks down at her.

“No, it doesn’t seem like it at all,”

He sits up a bit to watch her peel her t-shirt off and admires the way the moonlight dances over her pale skin. She’s beautiful, more so each day and he can’t even fathom how she’s the one in his life, driving him mad.

He doesn’t wear a shirt to bed, just a pair of sweats normally in winter so his legs don’t freeze off but she’s already pulling him down by his neck so he can kiss her again. In the haze of their bliss, he feels her try to push his sweats down with her feet and he chuckles against her mouth, removing his hands from her sides to help her out.

He pushes both her legs together and hoists them up parallel to her body, holding them down with his forearm before leaning down to kiss the inside of each thigh.

“Gendry,” she whines.

“What?” he asks teasingly but moves down to press his mouth against her cunt before she can get out another word of protest.

He hears her throw her head back against her pillow, chanting an ungraceful chain of curses that seem to mix with his name. He sucks her clit in between his lips and then licks a stripe up the length of her before bringing his hand up to tease his fingers at her entrance. She flinches and he moans against her cunt, as he feels her grab the sheets with her hands.

“ _Please,”_

And because he can’t ever say no to her, he does everything in his power to make her come and soon her back arches, her hips rising underneath his arm and he knows her lips are making that perfect O-shape. It’s all so perfect and then her body goes boneless, prompting him to kiss her against her once more and stop his ministrations.

It takes her a moment to come down from her high, and he can hear her panting as he sits up and wipes his mouth against the back of his hand.

“Alright?” he asks, trying to act nonchalant.

She mumbles what he can tell is ‘piss off’ and watches as she drags her hand across her face, smiling with her eyes closed.

He smiles and moves down to kiss her on the neck, settling in between her thighs.

“That good huh?” he whispers against her ear and feels her whole body shudder. “So sensitive, it’s almost as though you missed me.”

Instead of telling him to go fuck himself, he feels her hands slink down the front of his boxers, cupping his balls in a way that make his eyes roll back in his head. It’s probably some form of revenge for him being such a cocky bastard, and he sure as Hells deserves it. He nearly dies right there and then when Arya shucks his boxers down his legs and pulls out his cock, stroking it languidly.

“What about yourself, I think the evidence says it all,” she whispers, and he can’t help but push against Arya’s hand.

He sits up and uses her legs to pull her forward, removing her hand so he can position himself at her entrance

“This good love?” he asks, and she nods before he enters her in one swift motion, sighing once he’s fully sheathed inside her. “Gods, fuck you’re perfect.”

It’s cliché, he reckons, feeling as though he’s home whilst being balls deep in her tight cunt but as she looks up at him as he rocks into her slowly and carefully, he doesn’t care anymore. Soon he can tell he’s hitting that spot in her that makes her sing and Arya does so; mumbling unintelligible sentences that drive him on further.

“Put your legs on my shoulders,” he pleads, and she looks up at him, her eyes black.

She hoists her legs up and he catches them, lowering her ankles on either side of his ears. He pushes forward against her and moves to scream but nothing comes out, because the position makes all the difference it seems. And after a few more deep strokes he understands what all the fuss is about, and he starts to groan against her mouth.

He realises it’s hard after a couple of seconds to reach down and rub her clit but Arya, as per usual, is one step in front of him and she does it herself, looking up at him as he raises to watch her in time with his thrusts. The sight is enough to drive him mad, as she sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and like a miracle it seems, he can tell she’s about to come as soon as he does and he tries so hard through the fog of bliss that captures his brain to last long enough to see her through.

Through sheer will power, he thinks, she lets out a long moan and her body goes taut and he joins her,

He collapses against, almost too boneless to care if he’s squashed her.

“Seven Hells,” he whispers

“Now _that_ was reunion sex,” she chuckles, and he smiles.

“Not too vanilla for you?” he teases breathlessly against her ear as she mindlessly runs her hands through his hair.

“Shut up,” she says quietly, much too lethargic to bicker. “That was amazing.”

He kisses her cheek and she opens her eyes to stare at him.

“I love you,” she whispers, and he can’t help but smile, pressing a kiss against her lips.

“Good thing you’re home then,” he says, running a thumb down her cheek. “Cause I love you too.”

“Yeah good thing but you’re suffocating me,” she complains.

He rolls on his back as she climbs off the bed to go off to the bathroom.

He feels his eyes grow heavy until the mattress dips and she’s against his side again.

“I think my favourite thing about the trip was showing everyone my thirsty photos of you,”

He snorts and runs a hand up her back.

“That’s a lie and you know it,”

“I’m not even joking,” she lifts up her head to stare up at him with a laugh. “You have not ogled yourself shirtless.”

“Yeah, because that would be a bit narcissistic,” he snorts.

She settles against his chest again and he feels a wave of peace settle deep inside his bones.

“Go to sleep, you must be tired from your flight,” he tells her, pressing his lips against the crown of her head.

“You too,” she finds his hand and curls her fingers into his.

They bask in the silence of their apartment that feels so much less empty than it did for the past two months.

“Oh, and Gendry?” he hears her ask.

“Yeah?” he closes his eyes and concentrates on how soft her skin is.

“What’s that box on the top of the kitchen?”


End file.
